As the end of the transfer window draws nearer, and still no further signings have come into Birmingham City, people (including myself here) have started to get nervous about the lack of transfer news.

I saw a point made by Kwacky on the SHA forum about how in the past we’ve demanded the board not talk about transfers until the ink was dry on the contract; a “show us, don’t tell us” approach. It’s pretty evident that the manager and the board are doing that – most stories coming in about transfers have been broken via agents or selling clubs – and now people aren’t happy with the lack of transfer news.

Is it a case of we’re all fickle and we don’t know what we want? I don’t think it is, I think it’s more the grass is always greener. All talk with no perceived action is probably just the same as no talk and no perceived action – without any concrete action it’s the same result; we haven’t signed anyone.

The problem we face is the massive cornucopia of news sources that are available to us these days; 24 hour rolling around the clock news, fan websites and rumour websites amongst others all feed our insatiable desire for news continuously. When the club makes a conscious decision not to talk about transfers, it shifts where the news comes from and the lack of concrete evidence of what we’re doing allows people to project their fears or paranoia onto the situation. What doesn’t help is when there are people who know nothing but like to pretend that they know plenty, posting rumours that could have some basis of fact in them knowing that some people will take them as gospel truth. There’s been some of this on the icbirmingham forums recently, and it seems cruel to me that someone would raise people’s expectations so.

I admit, maybe I was a little over the top last week. Maybe I should respect (as I have done previously) that AM knows what he’s doing; that the board know what they’re doing and that they’ll have the requisite people in ready for the end of the window. I take on board the feedback I’ve had from some people that there are still three weeks left of the window. I guess it’s hard to continually see no new news when you know just how much the team needs fresh blood.

I guess the cynicism built up after years of being let down by not quite meeting the asking price, or not quite meeting the required wages, or just having players turn us down because, you know, we’re just Birmingham City has left me worrying that it’s going to happen again in this window. I know we’re in for quite a few players, and that negotiations are quite advanced. I guess it would just make my mind rest a little easier knowing that the players have signed and that the squad has been strengthened; the thought of going into the first match of the season with the possibility of Marcus Bent on the bench doesn’t appeal – two goals against Harrow Borough or otherwise.

Tags: Rumours, Transfers